The invention relates to a heating apparatus for articles of food.
The terms "heating" and "to heat" refer in what follows to the warming of articles of food for a meal and may mean warming up, baking, frying, grilling or the like.
The term "articles of food" refers in what follows to almost all articles of food which may be heated such as french fries, croquettes, chips, bread, meat, fish, pizza or the like.
It is pointed out that the invention relates to a so-called "dry" method to heat articles of food that is, the articles of food are not immersed in a bath of oil or fat. Furthermore, the food articles may have possibly been provided with a small layer of fat or have already been baked beforehand and, according to the invention, they are heated with the help of infrared and/or hot air.
From patent application WO-A-89/10085 (application number PCT/BE89/00017) a heating apparatus which applies the dry method is known. A receptacle wherein the articles of food are received, rotates around an oblique axis. The bottom of the receptacle is roughened which takes care of a continuous movement of the articles of food. The filling of the arrangement is rather simple by way of a funnel and a blockable slide. This funnel and slide are situated above the obliquely arranged receptacle. This increases the distance between the heating elements and the articles of food to the detriment of the thermal efficiency of the arrangement. For the emptying of the receptacle, on the other hand, a rather large rotation of the receptacle is necessary. Furthermore, this rotation is only possible with a limited dimension of the receptacle. If the receptacle larger, it must first make a downward movement before rotation can start. This complicates the required mechanism and harms the compactness. Another drawback is that when the receptacle is returns to the heating position after emptying, the walls of the receptacle must form a good closing with the bell-glass as otherwise hot air escapes during baking or heating. Such a closing, however, is not always easy to realize.
Another important drawback of the apparatus of patent application WO-A-89/10085 is that it is only fitted for articles of food which comprise small parts which are loose with regard to each other, such as french fries, chips and croquettes.
It is an object of the invention to provide for an apparatus which avoids the drawbacks of the state of the art.
It is a major object of the invention to provide for an apparatus which may heat different kinds of articles of food.
It is also an object of the present invention to provide for an apparatus which allows the filling and emptying of the apparatus in a simple way.
It is another object of the invention to provide for an apparatus with improved thermal efficiency.
It is still another object of the invention to provide for an apparatus which heats the articles of food as homogeneously as possible.